Research
Working Paper:
Private Health Insurance under Universal Health Care
While the purchase of private health insurance is clearly beneficial in the absence of public insurance, it is difficult to evaluate individual costs and benefits when baseline coverage exists for everyone. The problem of selection is approached through a regression kink design in conjunction with a policy implemented in Australia in the year 2000, punishing agents for delaying the purchase of private health until later in life. By investigating the benefits with an administrative tax panel, this study reveals potential hidden costs and unintended consequences of private health insurance under universal health care.
Online Appendix
Vaccines at Work
(with Roberto Mosquera and Adrian Chadi)
Influenza imposes substantial costs and vaccination could be a cost-effective way to reduce them. However, low take-up rates, particularly of working adults, and vaccination unintendingly causing moral hazard may decrease its benefits. We ran a natural field experiment with employees of a large bank in Ecuador where we experimentally manipulated incentives to participate in a flu vaccination campaign. We find that reducing the opportunity costs of vaccination increased take-up by 112%. Contrary to the company’s expectations, we find that the effect of vaccination on health outcomes is a precise zero with no measurable health externalities from coworkers. Using administrative records on sickness diagnoses and employee surveys, we find evidence consistent with vaccination causing moral hazard, which could decrease its effectiveness.
A Natural Experiment on Television and Well-Being
(with Adrian Chadi)
Watching television is the most time-consuming human activity besides work. Based on previous research, television consumption is detrimental to individual well-being. Hence, economists view this as an example of irrational behavior. This relies on the popular but false belief that research has provided convincing evidence on the negative well-being effects of watching TV. We therefore question this notion by taking advantage of a natural experiment in which access to television signals was quasi-randomly assigned to West German households. Longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel allows us to determine how signal reception affects psychological outcomes. Contrary to previous research, we observe significant increases in life satisfaction when people watch more television.
Work in Progress:
Identifying Myopic Behavior of Health Insurance Coverage
(with Marco Castillo and Ragan Petrie)
Overcoming Peer Pressure to Drink
(with Bernd Leisen and Vanessa Mertins)
The Vaccination Competition
(with Noah Bacine and Irene Mussio)
East and West Germany: TV Consumption and Female Labor Market Participation
(with Adrian Chadi and Sven Hartmann)
Optimal Fertility
(with Daniel Stephenson)
Moral Hazard in Vaccination
(with Roberto Mosquera)
The Returns to Elective Surgery
(Yu-Wei Luke Chu)
Future Work in Progress:
HIV Perceptions, Distribution and TV Consumption
(with Adrian Chadi and Sven Hartmann)
Health and Labor Effects of Sanitation
(with Roberto Mosquera)
Income Effects and Peer Well-Being
(with Roberto Mosquera)
The Vaxxer and Anti-Vaxxer Equilibrium
(with Lynn Riggs)
The Welfare Implications of Pharma Tourism
(with Joshua Witter)
General Equilibrium Estimation of Private Health Insurance under Universal Health Care
(with Marco Castillo and Ragan Petrie)
The Existence of Herd Immunity. Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial
(with Marianna Blanco, Daniel Gomez, Cesar Mantilla, Juan Fernando Vargas Duque)
Other Work:
Does Fairness Matter? Only if it Benefits me. An Extended Replication (Upon Request)
(with Catherine Eckel, Manuel Hoffmann and Yinjunjie Zhang)
Revenge Giving: An Experiment using MTurk (Upon Request)
(with Andrea Kelly and Meradee Tangvatcharapong, Raisa Sara)
The Pro-Russian Conflict and its Impact on Stock Returns in Russia and the Ukraine (CLICKABLE)
(with Matthias Neuenkirch)
Private Health Insurance under Universal Health Care
While the purchase of private health insurance is clearly beneficial in the absence of public insurance, it is difficult to evaluate individual costs and benefits when baseline coverage exists for everyone. The problem of selection is approached through a regression kink design in conjunction with a policy implemented in Australia in the year 2000, punishing agents for delaying the purchase of private health until later in life. By investigating the benefits with an administrative tax panel, this study reveals potential hidden costs and unintended consequences of private health insurance under universal health care.
Online Appendix
Vaccines at Work
(with Roberto Mosquera and Adrian Chadi)
Influenza imposes substantial costs and vaccination could be a cost-effective way to reduce them. However, low take-up rates, particularly of working adults, and vaccination unintendingly causing moral hazard may decrease its benefits. We ran a natural field experiment with employees of a large bank in Ecuador where we experimentally manipulated incentives to participate in a flu vaccination campaign. We find that reducing the opportunity costs of vaccination increased take-up by 112%. Contrary to the company’s expectations, we find that the effect of vaccination on health outcomes is a precise zero with no measurable health externalities from coworkers. Using administrative records on sickness diagnoses and employee surveys, we find evidence consistent with vaccination causing moral hazard, which could decrease its effectiveness.
A Natural Experiment on Television and Well-Being
(with Adrian Chadi)
Watching television is the most time-consuming human activity besides work. Based on previous research, television consumption is detrimental to individual well-being. Hence, economists view this as an example of irrational behavior. This relies on the popular but false belief that research has provided convincing evidence on the negative well-being effects of watching TV. We therefore question this notion by taking advantage of a natural experiment in which access to television signals was quasi-randomly assigned to West German households. Longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel allows us to determine how signal reception affects psychological outcomes. Contrary to previous research, we observe significant increases in life satisfaction when people watch more television.
Work in Progress:
Identifying Myopic Behavior of Health Insurance Coverage
(with Marco Castillo and Ragan Petrie)
Overcoming Peer Pressure to Drink
(with Bernd Leisen and Vanessa Mertins)
The Vaccination Competition
(with Noah Bacine and Irene Mussio)
East and West Germany: TV Consumption and Female Labor Market Participation
(with Adrian Chadi and Sven Hartmann)
Optimal Fertility
(with Daniel Stephenson)
Moral Hazard in Vaccination
(with Roberto Mosquera)
The Returns to Elective Surgery
(Yu-Wei Luke Chu)
Future Work in Progress:
HIV Perceptions, Distribution and TV Consumption
(with Adrian Chadi and Sven Hartmann)
Health and Labor Effects of Sanitation
(with Roberto Mosquera)
Income Effects and Peer Well-Being
(with Roberto Mosquera)
The Vaxxer and Anti-Vaxxer Equilibrium
(with Lynn Riggs)
The Welfare Implications of Pharma Tourism
(with Joshua Witter)
General Equilibrium Estimation of Private Health Insurance under Universal Health Care
(with Marco Castillo and Ragan Petrie)
The Existence of Herd Immunity. Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial
(with Marianna Blanco, Daniel Gomez, Cesar Mantilla, Juan Fernando Vargas Duque)
Other Work:
Does Fairness Matter? Only if it Benefits me. An Extended Replication (Upon Request)
(with Catherine Eckel, Manuel Hoffmann and Yinjunjie Zhang)
Revenge Giving: An Experiment using MTurk (Upon Request)
(with Andrea Kelly and Meradee Tangvatcharapong, Raisa Sara)
The Pro-Russian Conflict and its Impact on Stock Returns in Russia and the Ukraine (CLICKABLE)
(with Matthias Neuenkirch)
